Internal-combustion engine



Sept. 29, 1925. l 1,555,146

E. A. NELSON Imaam. couaunon Exams Filed lay 1. 1922 A sllllllll f /fy/ ll l Patented Sept. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATESy EMIL.A.1NELSON, OF HALFWAY, MICHIGAN.

INTERNALLCOMBUSTION ENGINE.

Applicatii med May 1,

To all @50h-0m t may concern.'

Beit known that I,- EMIL A; NELSON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 'Halfway, in the county of'Macomb and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefiil'lmprovements in Internal-:Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification', reference being had therein to the accompanying `drawings.

In the operation of internal"combustion engines, it has been found, that. any unburned portions-of fuel passingth'e pistons and dropping into the engine crank case, lso dilute the lubricating oil that efficient lubrication is prevented, resulting in injury `to the moving parts of the'motor. A further source of trouble in theoperation ofimotors of this type is excess of lubricatingoil in the cvlinderscaused by the adherence 'of the oil to the cylinder wall, which oil is constantly replenished during -reciprocation of the pistons, by oil flowing from Vthe piston wall.V The excessive amount o'f-oil carried by the cylinder wall vis gradually worked up by the reciprocation oft-he pistons into the combustion chamber, causing rapid` formation of carbon which interferes with the efli'cient operation of the engine.

An object-lof the present invention isfto overcome these defects and to `separate out and catch the nnburned "portions of fuel remaining in vthe combustion chamber, in such a manner that the lighter portions of this fuel' may bev again used as fuel* for the engine and the l heavier portions may be drawn off. It is also an object to so form the pistons that oil 'adhering th'ereto will vbe directed away from the cylinder wall instead o-f being deposited thereon, thusreducing the amountv of'oil on the cylinder surface. A further Objectis-to provi-dela construction having certain I other` new and useful features, all as hereinafter' more fu'lily described.y

ith the above and 1other ends in view the invention consists inf the matters` hereinafter set Vforth' and more particularlypoint'ed out in the appendedl cla-im, 4reference being had to the accompanying drawing, infwhich- Figure l-is a sectional side elevation of'a portion of an engine embodying features illustrative of the invention, and Y FigfQ, a similariview showing the engine piston yat the =u-pper vend of its' stroke in order to more clearly disclose the invention.

1922. Serial No. 557,607..

For the purpose of illustration an old and wellknown type of internal combustion engine is shown in the drawings, said engine comprising a cylinder 1 having the usual water jacketQ surrounding the same, with the cylinder mounted upon al crank case 3 and a piston l reciprocable in the cylinder and 'having a connecting rod 5 pivotally attached thereto in the usual manner.- The features of construction embodying the invention may be embodied in any ofthe old and well knowntypes of internalcombustion engine and it is therefore not the intention to limitsr the invention to anyy particular type or general construction of engine..l

One of the features ofthe present-inveni tion'relates to the provi-ding lof means for removingand collectingunburned portions of fuel remaining in the combustion charnber of an internalcombustion engine, thus preventing this residue fromV passing-downward between vthe vpistn and cylinder wall into the lcrank case ofthe engine. Asillustrative of =one means for the purpose, a series of small holes or openings 6 is provided-in nthe cylinder Wall 7 just below the'horizontal plane of the head Blof the piston 4 when the piston is at the extreme'lowerend of its stroke. Whenthe piston is at the lower end of its stroke as fshown'in Fig.L 1, these openingsAG- are-opposite the upper-sealing ring 9 of the series of such rings usually provided for sealing lthe joint r.between the pistonand cylinder walls. Preferably the wall or outer surface of the `pistoni.l 4 is relieved slightly, as atil', above' this ring 9 and thereforev when the. piston is in the position shown 1n Fig. l any residue of unburned gasoline remaining in the cylinderA abovel the piston may passinto thisfnarrow passage 1:0

Vfornfied by the relieving ofthewall of the piston and find its way d'wn-wardly.around the ring 9,: escaping-,through the seriesv of openings 6 in the. cylinder wall directly opposite the lowery side ofthevr'ingj These holes `6 open into achamfber'll formedby carryingvth'e outer wall of the: wlater jacket downward to'the base 12 yof the cylinder and by providing a draw-off Coc'k- 13.for this chamber adjacentthe base,- this. fuel residue may be drawn offy at will. Preferably an opening 14 is provideda'dj'acent theupper endof thec'hamber l1 inr the outer wall Aof the? chamber. and over this opening iss secured a pipe 15 which may lead to the carbureter, not shown, or other fuel intake for the engine so that the volatile portions of the fuel residue in the chamber 1l will be drawn off through this pipe by engine operation and again introduced into the cylinder as fuel.

By locating the openings 6 opposite the upper ring 9 when the piston is at the extreme lower end of its stroke, the dwell in the stroke of the piston at this point and the change in the direction of its motion facilitates the escape of any fuel residue past the ring and out through the openings. Further by the location of these openings at the lower end of the piston stroke, they are always sealed by the piston and its rings except when the piston is at the extreme lower end of its stroke and therefore no useful fuel or power is lost through these openings. The cost of manufacture is not materially increased by providing the engine with this chamber 11 as the cylinder block may be readily cast with the outer wall of the water jacket extending to the base of the cylinder, the chamber thus occupying a place around the cylinder which in the usual construction is unoccupied. With this arrangement dilution of the lubricating oil in the crank case by gasoline passing the piston and falling into the crank case is not only effectually prevented but a saving in fuel is made by collecting this residue within the chamber where it is allowed to settle and remains hot and from which the chamber the lighter portions of the fuel may be drawn off and again passed into the engine cylinder, supplementing the regular charges. The heavy portions of the fuel residue in the chamber 11 may be readily drawn off from time to time.

Ordinarily the lower end or skirt portion 1G of the piston 4L is made of uniform diameter throughout its length and therefore upon the upstroke of the piston the lubricating oil splashed into the lower end portion of this skirt by the rotation of the engine cranks, will fiow down upon the inner surface of the skirt and pass from the lower end thereof directly to the inner surface of the cylinder wall, supplementing the supply of oil already upon this wall and therefore the cylinder wall receives such a quantity of oil that during reciprocation of the piston this oil will gradually work its way up between the piston and cylinder walls, past the piston rings and finally get into the combustion chamber above the piston where it causes a rapid and excessive formation of carbon upon the head of the piston causing what is known as engine knocking and also causing fouling of spark plugs so that frequent removal and cleaning is necessary. In the present construction the extreme lower end portion of the skirt 16 is offset inwardly as at 17 thus forming a downwardly extending annular flange 18 at the lower end of the skirt of less diameter than the external diameter of the skirt and also providing a sharp right angle shoulder 19 which serves to scrape any excess of oil from the surface of the cylinder and as the flange 18 has an outer surface leading from this shoulder and free of the wall of the cylinder, the oil scraped from the cylinder wall will be conducted inwardly by adhering to this surface and will collect any drops upon the lower edge of the flange and drop therefrom upon the'upstroke of the piston instead of flowing from the lower end of the skirt on to the surface of the cylinder. The supplying of an excessive amount of oil to the cylinder surface below the piston is thus avoided by directing the oil adhering to the piston skirt away from the cylinder surface and therefore sufficient oil is supplied to the cylinder surface to effect efficient lubrication and the passing of oil into the combustion chamber is prevented.

The combining of means for removing and collecting unburned fuel residue with the means for directing oil away from the cylinder surface, provides in a simple and efficient manner an engine construction wherein most of the troubles common to internal combustion engines are eliminated and a very material saving is effected in both fuel and lubricating oils.

Obviously changes may be made in the construction shown and described, within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit of the invention, and I do not therefore limit myself to the particular form or arrangement shown.

What I claim is In an internal combustion engine, the combination of an upright cylinder with a crank case at the lower end of said cylinder, and a piston reciprocable in said cylinder, said cylinder being formed with an annular chamber surrounding the lower end portion of the cylinder and thc cylinder wall being formed with openings adjacenu and below the plane of the upper end of the piston head when said piston is at the lower end of its stroke, means for drawing vapor from the upper part of said chamber rising from the residue of fuel caught therein, said piston being formed with a groove adjacent its upper end and the upper end of said piston above said groove being of reduced diameter, and a packing ring in said groovein the piston, said ring being located opposite the openings in the cylinder wall when the piston is at the lower end of its stroke.

ture.

EMIL A. NELSON.

In testimony whereof I affix my signa- 

